Hype Watch: The Samourai (Bitcoin Wallet) Draws a Line in the Sand on BCH

“We are privacy activists who have dedicated our lives to creating the software that Silicon Valley will never build, the regulators will never allow, and the VC’s will never invest in. We build the software that Bitcoin deserves.”

Samourai Wallet are also open source developers. This is important to get out of the way, before this bit of news about Samourai Wallet picking sides goes viral. The reason it’s important is that with the correct perspective, the statement has no impact at all. Nevertheless, here is the statement made by Samourai themselves, via Reddit:

We are not neutral. We are 100% emotionally, politically and technically opposed to bcash and any future attacks on the bitcoin network. If you are looking for a middle of the road fence sitting position you should look to another wallet. […] I understand if taking a position makes you uncomfortable in an age when everyone is dancing around on eggshells trying to avoid offense, but you will come to appreciate our honesty and candor. […] Good luck out there.

Alright, fair enough. What actual loss does this represent to Bitcoin Cash users? Well, none at all, of course, for the same reason that Bitcoin core developers don’t have to worry about bugs incurred in Bitcoin Cash development. If Bitcoin cash users want Samourai wallet as a mobile wallet option in the future, someone amongst them will simply have to fork it, maintain it, and hopefully do so without incurring personal financial losses. While under most open source licenses this would preclude using the name “Samorai Wallet”, it wouldn’t stop a mobile developer from standing atop their proud shoulders to build a forked version.

Thus, while we know that Samourai’s developers consider Bitcoin Cash to be an “attack on the Bitcoin network,” we don’t have any reason to believe this is a problem for Bitcoin Cash users. Mobile wallets especially do not lack implementations to pick from. Brick and mortar establishments accepting Bitcoin Cash are even fewer than those accepting Bitcoin, so demand for such a wallet is probably less than Samourai realizes anyway. Perhaps they were just deluged with questions from Bitcoin Cash users eager to spread the message in person.

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In any case, the statement was brought on at the behest of the Bitcoin community, so it can be assumed that Samourai were not looking for extra attention just for making a logical maintenance decision. (They are a Bitcoin wallet – there are other wallets which support multi-currencies.) Someone linked the following tweet on Reddit, and a discussion ensued in which some form of statement was only necessary.

Samourai is not SPV – will not blindly follow the longest chain – We will follow the longest valid chain. We will not support BCH ever.